Digvijaya vs Pragya Singh Thakur: Diggy Raja faces another sadhvi after 16 years

NEW DELHI: It is Digvijaya Singh versus a sadhvi once again. The woman saint who had confronted the ‘Raja of Raghogarh’ 16 years ago was Uma Bharti. This time she is Pragya Singh Thakur.
The BJP has decided to field Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur against senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh from Bhopal, which goes to polls in the sixth and penultimate phase to be held on May 12.
The BJP is set to give the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister a tough time.
While Pragya Singh Thakur is closely associated with the BJP’s ideological parent RSS, Digvijaya Singh is known to be vocal against it.
Pragya is an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts. She is out on bail after National Investigation Agency (NIA) gave her a clean chit about two years ago.
Digvijaya Singh was in the forefront of the Congress to ramp up the “saffron terror” charge against the Sangh Parivar after Pragya and Lt Col Shrikant Purohit were made accused in the Malegaon blasts.
With the BJP fielding Pragya Singh Thakur against Digvijaya, the Bhopal election is likely to get polarised. Incidentally, both are Rajputs.
In a veiled dig, Digvijaya Singh welcomed Pragya Singh Thakur soon after her candidature from Bhopal was announced by the BJP.
In a tweet, the Rajya Sabha said, "I welcome Sadhvi Pragya ji in Bhopal. I hope she will like the peaceful, educated and civilised atmosphere of this idyllic city. I pray for Sadhvi ji from mother Narmada and seek the river's blessings for all of us to keep treading on the path of truth, non-violence and dharma. Narmade Har!"

Digvijaya, the former two-term chief minister, has already started making conciliatory gestures towards the RSS. Last month he said he is a staunch Hindu and RSS is a Hindu outfit. He asked why the RSS have an ill-feeling towards him.
Bhopal is a BJP-RSS stronghold. The BJP has won all the eight Lok Sabha elections since 1989.
In fact, Union drinking water and sanitation minister Uma Bharti had contested against Congress heavyweight Suresh Pachori from Bhopal 20 years ago in the 1999 Lok Sabha elections and defeated him comprehensively.
Later, in the 2003 Madhya Pradesh assembly elections, the BJP contested by projecting sadhvi Uma Bharti as its chief ministerial candidate.
Uma Bharti challenged Digvijaya Singh, who was the MP chief minister, serving his second term.
The BJP trounced the Congress winning by three-fourths majority (173 of the 230 seats).
The humiliating defeat forced Digvijaya Singh to take exile for 10 years from electoral politics. He became a Rajya Sabha member in 2014 after that self-imposed exile came to an end.
Digvijaya Singh had contested the last assembly election from Raghogarh in December 2003. The Congress government led by him was defeated by sadhvi Uma Bharti then.
He had fought the last Lok Sabha election from Rajgarh in 1993. He is contesting election for entry in the Lower House again after 26 years. The opponent is again a sadhvi - Pragya Singh Thakur this time.